Ryan Plots His Next Steps in the House

Vice-Presidential Nominee Must Navigate Tough Budget Negotiations With an Eye to His Higher National Profile

By

Patrick O’Connor

Updated Nov. 8, 2012 10:36 a.m. ET

Paul Ryan, the Republican congressman thrust to national prominence as Mitt Romney’s running mate, spoke briefly Wednesday with one of his many admirers in Congress, House Speaker John Boehner.

The election pointed to the nation's demographic future: white men had no purchase in the presidential election and for the first time they will be a minority in the House Democratic caucus. Neil King reports on The News Hub. Photo: AP Images.

The speaker “told him that he and the conference want him back in the fold and will welcome him as soon as he is ready,” said Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith.

The question now is how involved the 42-year-old Wisconsin Republican wants to be, as he emerges from Mr. Romney’s failed White House bid with a much higher profile than he had before—and amid speculation he will make a run for the presidency himself in 2016, backed by conservative GOP admirers.

The next two years, though, will test Mr. Ryan’s well-crafted image as a politician more interested in substance than ambition. He will have to decide whether to wade into what could be tense negotiations between Congress and the White House over tax and entitlements, where making compromises could risk a conservative backlash.

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Over the past two years, Mr. Ryan twice turned his back on bipartisan attempts to reduce the deficit. He was a member of the deficit panel appointed by President Barack Obama, but he voted against the package of tax increases and spending cuts crafted by its co-chairmen, Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles, which drew votes of some other Republicans. And Mr. Ryan asked not to participate in what became known as the “supercommittee” last year, a 12-member bipartisan ad hoc panel that tried but failed to reach a deficit-reduction compromise.

If congressional Republicans ultimately reach an agreement with Mr. Obama to reduce the deficit, it is almost certain to include tax increases that draw “no” votes from some House Republicans. Mr. Ryan, eventually, will have to decide whether to join them or to vote for the bipartisan deal, if there is one.

The White House race amplified Mr. Ryan’s voice in the Republican Party, putting him on the main stage with Mr. Boehner and such rising stars as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Republicans have taken cues from Mr. Ryan on budget and spending issues for years, and he will return to Washington with more sway inside the party.

“He was a leader before, but now he has national star power,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.), a Ryan ally.

Mr. Ryan emerges from the presidential race with his image largely intact, despite Democratic challenges to his assertions about the closure of a General Motors plant in Wisconsin and taunting about his understating his marathon time by more than an hour. In the waning weeks of the campaign, slightly more voters viewed him positively than negatively, 39%-37%, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News October poll found.

The Wisconsin Republican joined the ticket as a polarizing figure, given his sharp disagreements with Mr. Obama and his plan to transform Medicare from an open-ended promise to a program more akin to subsidized private insurance. Those issues quickly moved to the back burner on the Romney campaign, particularly after an early blitz by Democrats on the Medicare overhaul.

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If the Obama-Romney race was a referendum on two visions of government—as Mr. Ryan frequently said it was on the campaign trail—the results were hardly a sweeping endorsement of Mr. Romney’s view.

But the campaign gave Mr. Ryan national campaign experience that few sitting House members ever get. After an initial burst of media attention following his selection as Mr. Romney’s running mate, Mr. Ryan spent much of the campaign crisscrossing swing states, particularly those in the Midwest, and he largely stayed out of the headlines. He did 37 events in Ohio, 22 in Virginia, 18 in Florida and 15 in his native Wisconsin, according to a tally maintained by the Romney campaign.

Some of the travel would serve him well, if he throws his hat into the White House race for 2016. He made a dozen campaign stops in Iowa, home to the first-in-the-nation caucuses; five in New Hampshire, which has an early primary; and 18 stops in the big state of Florida. He attended more than 60 fundraising events, rubbing shoulders with some of Mr. Romney’s wealthiest donors.

Mr. Ryan joined Mr. Romney on the last day of campaigning, and he flew with him to Boston to watch the returns. On Wednesday, Mr. Ryan and his family flew back to his hometown of Janesville, Wis.

In a statement, he said he looks forward to “continuing my responsibilities as chairman of the House Budget Committee.” Mr. Ryan is facing the end of his six-year term as the top Republican on the Budget panel; a Boehner aide said the speaker would grant him a waiver to keep the post.

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